Research Interests

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome; Pain Education; Aging and Pain

Biography

Dr. Paul Jordan Christo is an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He specializes in treating patients with persistent pain in the spine, cancer pain, neuropathic pain, shingles pain, post-surgical pain and thoracic outlet syndrome.

Dr. Christo is experienced in performing implantations of pain pumps and spinal cord stimulators for the treatment of unrelenting pain. He also has expertise in clinical anesthesia, epidural placement and spinal anesthesia.

He directed the Multidisciplinary Pain Fellowship Program at The Johns Hopkins Hospital for eight years, and directed the Blaustein Pain Treatment Center at Hopkins for five years.

Dr. Christo received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and earned his medical degree from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He completed a residency in anesthesia and critical care at Harvard Medical School and performed a fellowship in pain medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He also has an MBA in health care management from Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. Dr. Christo joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2001.

His research interests include the use of botulinum toxin for thoracic outlet syndrome, pain in older adults, the mechanisms of spinal cord stimulation and the application of online educational modules for pain education.

Dr. Christo is an invited lecturer both nationally and internationally, serves on two journal editorial boards and reviews for several others, has published more than 60 articles and book chapters, co-edited three textbooks on pain, and actively teaches medical students, residents and pain fellows. He has been a course director or coordinator for many continuing medical education (CME) programs that focus on educating both specialists and generalists on important aspects of pain diagnosis and treatment.

He has served on advisory boards for the American Academy of Pain Medicine, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the International Association for the Study of Pain and the American Pain Society.

Dr. Christo was one of eight national pain experts to be selected as an American Academy of Pain Medicine/Pfizer Visiting Professor and was one of six experts from the U.S. and Canada to participate in the Mayday Pain and Society Fellowship Program. Dr. Christo is the host of “Aches and Gains,” a weekly radio talk show on pain and pain relief.

Dr. Christo has appeared on XM Satellite Radio- Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Timothy Johnson- Good Morning America Health, Retirement Living Television, NPR-The Diane Rehm Show and Talk of the Nation, and U.S. News and World Report, Washington Post, and the Baltimore Sun. He is also the pain expert for the live Web Chat series on Pain Management, hosted by the Tribune newspapers and Baltimore Sun.

Certifications

Research Summary

Dr. Paul Jordan Christo is researching the use of botulinum toxin for thoracic outlet syndrome, pain in older adults, the mechanisms of spinal cord stimulation and the application of online educational modules for pain education.

He has published on such topics as post herpetic neuralgia, opioid effectiveness in chronic pain, aging and addiction, cancer pain and complex regional pain syndrome. He is investigating novel therapies for thoracic outlet syndrome, and studying the sexual side effects of chronic opioid therapy, pain medication prescription errors and online educational modules for pain education.